Focus on governance, compliance excellence
What was your achievement in your first tenure?
During my first tenure, AIBI received multiple statutory recognitions from SEBI, including its designation as the ‘designated body’ for first-level review of SCORES complaints pertaining to merchant bankers. In an industry-first initiative, AIBI has also been entrusted with hosting audiovisual disclosures of public-issue documents on its website, along with the authority to prescribe an online repository framework. During the last two years, the AIBI membership surged by 71 per cent, and AIBI’s Annual Summit was elevated into a national convention drawing top regulators, policymakers and market leaders. We established expert committees on KPIs, working capital and standard procedures; launched 12 editions of AIBI Connect for regulatory and compliance dialogue; and pioneered academic collaborations, such as India’s first MBA in Investment Banking with Atlas University. Initiatives like the AIBI Chanakya mascot, revamped Due Diligence Manual, and investor-awareness campaigns followed.
How did it improve the stature?
AIBI’s stature got redefined from an industry representative to a credible policy partner, educator and reform catalyst for India’s primary markets. As India’s capital markets enter an exciting new phase of growth, it becomes ever more crucial to nurture innovation, integrity and investor confidence. This opportunity reinforces my commitment to building a future-ready ecosystem that empowers investment bankers and strengthens the foundation of our capital market for the years ahead.
What do you propose to do in this new tenure?
In this new tenure, the focus is on deepening AIBI’s role as a key institutional interface between the merchant-banking community and SEBI. The priority is to build on the strong governance foundation already established and to drive initiatives that enhance transparency, technology adoption, and capacity-building across the investment-banking ecosystem. AIBI will continue to work closely with regulators to ensure that India’s primary-market framework remains robust, inclusive and globally competitive.
What are the targets for this new tenure?
The overarching goal is to make AIBI a model self-regulatory institution for the capital markets industry.
Specific targets include expanding AIBI’s membership base to include all active merchant bankers in India; launching a comprehensive digital compliance and disclosure framework that simplifies regulatory interactions; strengthening grievance-redressal mechanisms under the SCORES review mandate entrusted by SEBI; and building structured learning and certification programmes for new-age professionals to prepare them for the next phase of India’s IPO and debt-market growth.
How is AIBI helping investment bankers keep up with new regulations and changes in the market?
Regulatory change today is continuous, not periodic. AIBI has therefore institutionalised proactive communication with SEBI and members through workshops, circular digests, compliance webinars and advisory committees. AIBI also acts as a bridge, providing industry
feedback to SEBI while ensuring members stay informed and compliant. In the coming months, we intend to introduce an online regulatory update dashboard and interactive training modules to make compliance more participatory and real-time.
Are you planning to launch any new training, awareness or partnership initiatives for the industry?
Yes. AIBI is actively focusing on governance and compliance excellence, followed by innovation, digital transformation, leadership development and investor protection. We are working on creating more functional committee teams for operational and compliance excellence. For new age investment bankers, we will be introducing a series of initiatives to enable larger learning and development backed by strong research. We are also planning to launch AIBI Connect 2.0 – an expanded engagement platform to facilitate dialogue among issuers, regulators, investors and intermediaries on evolving market reforms.
